A Farmer's Grit
| And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians6:9) |
I had the privilege of spending 7 years in Grahamstown as a student, a probationer and then an assistant minister. During this time I got to know a number of the Eastern Cape farmers in the congregation. It is not easy to farm in that part of the world. The land is dry and droughts come often. With four seasons in a day, cold snaps can come in a moment and wise farmers must quickly get their lambs into the barns. Crops can be lost to drought or frost and one can easily overgraze precious land and be left with nothing.
These were not veranda farmers, sipping lemonade in the shade while workers and machines took care of the farm. These were men and women with strong hands, weather worn skin, light in their eyes and fire in their bellies. They had learned to face hardship and the value of hard work. Some Sunday mornings I could see by their movements that it had been a long week, and they more than anyone knew what it was like to wait for the rain. There would be times that I know that their crops were bedraggled in the dried out fields and they were spending long hours fetching feed for flocks because the fields were bare, but there they were in church, faithful in worship and patient in prayer. These same farmers would serve and give generously in cash and kind even if the rain hadn't come.
Paul is urging the Galatians to have a "farmer's grit" in doing good.
To work hard, hang tough and to trust God.
The rains come, the crops grow and we get to fight another round.
